The Google translator on Grace Bundy’s iPad will get a workout this weekend.

How else would the 11-year-old communicate with the girl from Russia staying in her Galloway
home?

Despite the language barrier, the pair should have plenty to share. Both are rhythmic gymnasts
competing at the Spring Fling Invitational, beginning Friday at the Greater Columbus Convention
Center.

Grace is one of several competitors from Integrity Rhythmic Gymnastics in Plain City hosting
athletes from a Moscow club, one of 11 Russian teams participating. She said she hopes to learn
from her new friend about differences in the sport in the countries.

“In Russia, rhythmic gymnastics is a really big sport,” Grace said. “They train a lot. We train
a lot, just not as much as them.”

To aid the conversation, Grace learned from coaches a few important Russian words — the
apparatuses that are used in the sport.

A ribbon translates to
lenta. Ball is
myach. And the hoop —
obruch.

However, she will need her online translator if she wants to chat with girls from Japan, Ecuador
or the eight other countries represented at Spring Fling, the largest rhythmic gymnastics
competition in the country.

About 550 girls, including 42 from Integrity, will compete in a variety of categories, which
also include rope, clubs and floor.

Throughout the past six years, the competition has grown into a premier invitational on the
international circuit, said Anna Loescher, event founder and coach of Integrity, one of two
rhythmic teams in Ohio.

The event helps to put American rhythmic gymnastics on the map.

“We have at least 100 gymnasts from other countries,” she said, noting that the first Spring
Fling boasted just one international team. “We’ve grown from a high-school gym to the convention
center.”

The locale adds to the national and global draw of Spring Fling, said Taub Swartz, Integrity
booster president and father of 13-year-old gymnast Brianna.

“The high ceilings, great lighting, a Downtown venue — usually these events are held in the
suburbs,” Swartz said.

Julia Goslee, an 11-year-old from Hilliard, looks forward to competing in the Battelle Grand
Ballroom every year.

“You can toss higher,” said Julia, also a member of the U.S. Rhythmic Gymnastics Youth Elite
Squad. “Here (at the gym), I always get my ribbon caught in the ceiling.”

Competing and doing well against elite athletes from Russia — whose rhythmic gymnasts have won
team and individual golds at the past four Summer Olympics — and other countries is helping to
close the gap between the United States and the rest of the world.

The event also gives American athletes a chance to forge friendships, Loescher said.

“Even though they’re competing against each other, they’re working together to build the sport,
grow it in this country,” Loescher said. “We’re not Russia — not yet.”